A new era in California Golden Bears football will be ushered in when the 2026 season kicks off with the head coaching debut of Tosh Lupoi. Cal hosts former Pac-12 rival UCLA in both teams' season opener at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California, on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Lupoi is a first-year head coach, but he's certainly no first-timer on the sidelines. He's back at his alma mater where his coaching career began as a defensive line coach in 2008. Now, he's running the ship.
Prior to his recent hiring at Cal, he spent four years at Oregon as their defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. The former NFL defensive line coach spent time with the Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Lupoi brings
the pedigree of a two-time national champion with Alabama and a renowned recruiter when it comes to talent.
He inherits a program that saw itself finish its second season in the ACC with a 7-6 overall record and a 4-4 mark in conference play. It was their first winning season since 2019, which earned a bowl game bid.
The Bears' 2025 season ended with a 35-31 loss to Hawai'i in the Hawai'i Bowl. The program returns players who were on the wrong end of that close loss, and are coming back motivated. The Golden Bears also brought in transfers at key positions, some tied to Lupoi, which should have a big impact on the team's overall performance.
There's a buzz around Berkeley and its football program for 2026. Cal can definitely earn a second straight bowl appearance, but in question will be how much the team's overall record improves, if at all.
A bevy of things have to happen for Cal to have another successful season that replicates, or even exceeds its previous season. And there's a good chance that it can. Cal can really surprise teams that get caught sleeping, so don't snooze on the Golden Bears. Here's why:
Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele plays like a Heisman candidate
One reason there's a lot of excitement around Cal is due to its young, rising star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. He's only a sophomore, but looks to be the next great quarterback coming out of Cal.
When you think Fernando Mendoza, Jared Goff, Aaron Rodgers, Kyle Boller, Troy Taylor, think Sagapolutele.
For starters, he was the second true freshman in program history to be named starter. How'd he do?
Sagapolutele is coming off a 2025 season in which he completed 316 of 492 passes for 3,454 yards with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions while starting all 13 games.
His total completions, attempts and passing yards in a season were second-highest by a Cal freshman quarterback. Goff, who went on to become the No. 1 pick of the 2016 NFL Draft, set those records in 2013.
High expectations for sure, but that's what it's going to take. But not to worry, he's surrounded by experienced coaches to help guide him.
Coaching staff experience
Lupoi has been a part of great coaching staffs under Steve Sarkisian at Washington, Nick Saban at Alabama and Dan Lanning at Oregon. He's worked with future NFL first-round picks including DE Jonathan Allen, LB Reuben Foster, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, NT Daron Payne and LB Rashaan Evans.
Not only does Lupoi bring his NFL experience, but his coaching staff does, too. Lupoi knows how important a strong coaching staff is to a winning culture and program. So he surrounded his players with coaches who've been at the highest level.
His offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville spent the last three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the assistant quarterbacks coach working with Pro Bowl quarterback Baker Mayfield in a 2025 campaign in which he set career highs in completions (407), passing yards (4,500), passing touchdowns (41), completion percentage (71.4%) and passer rating (106.8). Somerville will be a key component in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele taking the next leap as a quarterback.
Michael Hutchings is Cal's new defensive coordinator after three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, the last two of which he served as the team's safeties coach. He helped the Vikings defense allow the second-fewest passing touchdowns in the league in 2025.
Lupoi called on former NFL wide receiver Ike Hilliard to lead his wide receivers room. Hilliard is former first-round draft pick who went on to have a 12-year NFL career and participated in Super Bowl XXXV as a player.
Hilliard coached 13 NFL seasons with multiple different franchises, instructing NFL receivers to six 1,000-yard seasons and four NFL teams top-10 passing yards seasons (Washington 2014, 2016, 2017; Atlanta 2024).
The coaching staff is stacked.
Lupoi brought extra baggage with him
Another reason that Cal will be good this season is that Lupoi can recruit. He's one of the best in the business. He worked the transfer portal class this summer and landed talent from around the nation, including nine players who were on rosters of teams in the 2025 College Football Playoff.
They added a mix of defensive stars and offensive weapons for Sagapolutele.
Cal's 2026 transfer portal class ranked as high as 14th nationally, and third-best in the ACC, according to 247Sports.
Lupoi left Oregon and took four players with him: defensive back Kingston Lopa, inside linebacker Kamar Mothudi, defensive lineman Jericho Johnson and wide receiver Cooper Perry.
Other transfers included cornerbacks Ricky Fletcher (Ole Miss) and Daniel Harris (Georgia), inside linebacker Tristan Jernigan (Texas A&M), outside linebacker Solomon Williams (Texas A&M) and long snapper David Bird, who's returning to Cal for his second stint from Alabama.
The Bears also added running back Adam Mohammed (Washington), tight end Dorian Thomas (New Mexico) and a couple of standout wide receivers, Ian Strong (Rutgers) and Chase Hendricks (Ohio), through the portal as well.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Three reasons why Cal football will be better than you think
